


Fate/High School

by Yukari



Category: Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Zero, Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Comedy, F/F, F/M, M/M, kinda similar like in soul eater??, lots of weird friendships, or so i hope, probably plot but without dying, though it's a school for master and servants, too many to tag - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukari/pseuds/Yukari
Summary: A new school year starts in the Fuyuki Academy, a high school for masters and servants!New students, new friendships, new loves and adventures!And most importantly, the annual Holy Grail Tournament for the most talented students! The third year students, including Shirou Emiya and Arturia Pendragon, are all determined not to let their underclassmen defeat them...Not everything may go as planned though.





	1. “I’ve seen Cú almost die too many times already"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a little nervous posting a fic for a fandom where I'm basically an entrance level fan, but here I go! 
> 
> I just wanted to write something fun since I'm always very emo about Fate. This story doesn't really have a set protagonist, each chapter may be told from a different character's perspective, but the canon protagonists are still going to be somewhere in the center of this chaos!! 
> 
> Also, big thanks to Star for helping me put this thing together~

“Whew, I think we’re finally done,” Shirou sighed after checking  if it was really alright to relax already . “This one was tougher than I expected.”

“There was a reason why this mission was available only for third year students, Shirou,” his servant, Arturia, said while hiding her sword into the scabbard. If she did that, then it really was safe to assume their battle was over.

“Yeah, I know, I know,” he replied, letting out a tired laugh. “Though I’m pretty sure that with a servant as strong as you even a second year would’ve been able to kick that shadow’s ass.”

“Rules exist  to be obeyed . If a second year tried to clear this mission they’d be punished severely,” Arturia stated, making him sigh again.

“Sometimes I wish you’d take my words a little less literally…”

“I’m just stating the truth. Rin’s father would never allow it.” She seemed to be somewhat confused.

“ Then you better tell Mordred about this.”

“I’m not their babysitter. Mordred is only a year younger, they should know what they are doing with their life.”

“But they don’t.”

“This is not my problem.” Arturia shrugged, repeating the same gesture Shirou has seen so many times before, when her younger sibling was mentioned. “I am more interested in how your own siblings are doing. Illyasviel and Chloe are starting tomorrow, am I right?”

"Yeah. I'm not really worried about them though, they're smart girls. Also, our parents are both working at this school, remember?"

"Of course I remember. I just think that Chloe is a person more than capable of wrecking havoc wherever she goes."

"...at least she's with Illya?" Shirou suggested, apparently still having some faith in one of his younger sisters, but Arturia just shook her head with resignation. Of course. Illya was pretty much an airhead.

"Anyway, let's go back and give a report to dad," he muttered.

Let us introduce the characters in this story, shall we?

He was  Shirou Emiya. A third year student at the local school focused on the education of servants and masters. He, obviously, was a master. Not really good at magic but his teamwork with Arturia was outstanding, making them one of the most capable  teams in their class.  As expected of the only son of Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel von Einzbern.

She was  Arturia Pendragon. Also a third year student,  and a  Saber class servant. One of the most promising Sabers in the history of their school, if not the most. The niece of professor Nero. Many have wondered how  she ended up paired with Shirou Emiya, but neither of them were complaining.

Kiritsugu Emiya. One of the teachers taking care of the Saber class studies. Shirou's father, a really well known and respected Saber class master. Not many knew he was a big softie when it came to his wife and children.

Irisviel von Einzbern. The school nurse. Kiritsugu’s wife and the mother of Shirou, Illya and Chloe. There most likely wasn’t a single person who disliked her.

Illyasviel and Chloe von Einzbern. Twin sisters, younger than Shirou by two years. You  could  never be sure what  they were up to. They already knew what they’re going to focus on while studying there – Illya would be a master, and Chloe the Archer class servant. Shirou was rather confident they weren’t going to  end up with each other though.

Those were only the people closest to Shirou, of course. There were a lot more of them, if someone asked him to make introductions. 

“I’m glad we didn’t have to leave the city for this one, to be honest. Coming back could take us some time, and I didn’t want to miss the new students,” Shirou said, as they were making their way back to the academy, walking through the familiar-looking streets of the city they both knew so well. He’s been living there his entire life, and Arturia moved into the dorms after enrolling about two years ago.  She had enough time to learn everything she could about this place.

“If this had happened, we could have just left that mission for someone else. There  are plenty of capable students in our class,” Arturia replied.

“You’re saying this, but I know you actually like showing off a little sometimes.”

“I’m just carrying out orders.”

“Sure, sure,” Shirou laughed a little. He’s been her partner almost since the very beginning, so he probably knew her better than she’d like to admit. “Good job today. You’ve done almost everything on your own, as always.”

“I would not say so. We’re a team, Shirou.” Arturia smiled at him. “I’m sure professor Kiritsugu will be proud of you.”

Was what he wanted really that obvious...?

“It doesn’t really matter, you know? We eliminated the shadow servant, and that’s the most important thing. People can stop being worried about it,” he replied, trying to hide his embarrassment, but she knew him just as well as he knew her.

“Whatever you say, master.” She sounded much more amused that he would like her to be.

Getting back to school didn’t take them a lot of time, since they were only a few streets away from the building. This city often had to deal with strange things due to the presence of so many mages living there. Their magical energy was simply attracting shadow servants and other strange creatures… They were dangerous to normal humans, of course, but in most cases sending a student was enough to get rid of them.

They were already climbing the stairs leading to the second floor of the school when something attacked them. Or maybe rather… fell down the stairs, almost crashing into them.

“Eeek!?” Shirou made a high pitched sound, grabbed Arturia’s hand and pulled her aside. She could’ve easily dodged it on her own, but his body moved on his own. He’d seen something similar so many times that he’d almost gotten used to this. Almost.

“Hey, Cú, are you alright!?” Someone called out from the top of the spiral staircase. They heard footsteps, and soon a girl appeared before their eyes. “Oh, Shirou, Arturia. You’re back already?”

“That’s not what’s important right now! Cú fell down the stairs! Is he going to be alright?” Shirou turned his read back, trying to see what was happening down there, but without any results.

“It’s not the first time it happened,” she replied. “I don’t think we have to worry about him…”

“He’s our classmate!”

“Oh, come on, Shirou! He’s not so weak to  as to die from something like this!” Rin Tohsaka raised her voice, pushing her long, dark hair behind her shoulder and making an annoyed face.

“Why are you talking about dying!? There’s no way he would die!”

“Then why are you panicking, idiot!?”

“Calm down. I doubt he’s dead. I would know if he was,” another girl stated, also going down the stairs. This one had short, red hair and was definitely more composed than Rin. Her name was Bazett Fraga McRemitz.

“That’s fair, but…”

“As always, you’re getting fired up about useless things.” This time it was a boy’s voice. A tall, white-haired guy followed the two girls, stopping behind Rin.

“And as always, you look as if nothing ever moved you, Emiya,” Arturia commented in her master’s stead. Said white-haired guy was Shirou’s mysterious cousin, going just by the name Emiya.

“I’ve seen Cú almost die too many times already,” he sighed.

“I can hear everything! You ungrateful bastard! Also, I’m still alive!”

“Is this the part when someone should say ‘sometimes I still hear his voice’?” Rin asked, somehow earning a muffled laugh from Arturia.

“What are the four of you even doing here?” Shirou finally asked the question he wanted to ask since the beginning.

“Ah, it’s not anything important. Remember that other mission, that required at least two master-servant duets? I asked Bazett and Cú whether they wouldn’t help us out,” Rin explained without much enthusiasm. “We have to earn our extra points somehow, you know? Since you two decided to take the solo mission and ignore the less important one.”

“We didn’t-“

“I’m very sorry, Rin, but we intend to take part in this year’s tournament,” Arturia said, not letting Shirou finish his sentence. “It’s better to start working towards our goal since the beginning.”

“And you think it’s not our goal as well?” Emiya asked. “It’s not like we pose any threat to you, we’re not even the same class.”

“We know about it, but there’s someone else we’re competing against,” Shirou sighed.

“Mordred,” Bazett muttered. “Wouldn’t it be safer to also keep an eye on Siegfried? I would do it if I were you.”

“You also have some pretty strong opponents,” Rin reminded her. “Vlad and Karna, right? Be careful, if Cú dies before the tournament you can’t even dream of participating.”

“I wonder why I’m even friends with you.” Cú finally managed to climb the stairs again and stared at them with displeasure written on his face. Despite that, Shirou noted that nothing bad seemed to happen to him. A servant’s endurance was really amazing… “Also, stop underestimating me! Those kids are still too inexperienced to be any threat to me!”

“They might’ve been, a year ago,” Rin said. “Right now they’re probably planning on how to beat us and prove that our group isn’t anything special.” She lowered her voice as her expression turned into something more determined. “I’ll show them that they’ve never been more wrong.”

“H-Hey, Rin… You look kind of scary now, you know?” Shirou muttered, laughing slightly.

“Good! Neither of the second year Archers stand a chance against us! Right, Emiya?”

“Whatever.”’

“Asking you anything is useless, as always,” she sighed in annoyance. “Anyway, I haven’t asked yet how did your mission go.”

“Completed without any complications,” Arturia replied.

“Yeah, there wasn’t even any need to use Arturia’s Noble Phantasm. We were expecting something more difficult.”

“Hmm, I hope that our mission is going to be as easy as this,” Bazett commented. “We just tagged along because Tohsaka asked us.”

“Of course. Otherwise I would never consider teaming up with Emiya,” her partner added.

“Quiet there, or you may disappear in a really mysterious way.”

“Anyway! We should get going!” Rin exclaimed, hitting Emiya on the back of his head. She had to raise her hand really high, considering how tall he was. Then, to Shirou’s surprise, she smiled at him. “Good job with this. See you later.”

“Y-Yeah, s-see you later…”

He couldn’t overlook Arturia and Emiya exchanging all-knowing looks, but thankfully Rin was already making her way down the stairs, unaware of that. Shirou didn’t know how the hell they noticed his slight crush on her, but they weren’t trying to hide this knowledge.

“So, again, why did I even climb these stairs?” Cú sighed heavily and this time began walking down instead of falling.

Cú Chullain, a Lancer class servant. Would have been a cool person if he hadn’t become the local punching bag. Not even because someone was bullying him, it’s just that… all kind of weird accidents were happening to him. Like with the stairs earlier.

“Good luck,” Shirou said, but the only answer he received was a nod from Bazett. She was probably the most level-headed person out of the four of them… “Oh well.”

“Let’s go, Shirou.” Arturia gently pushed him forward, signaling that the conversation was over. They only had to make the report and then he could go home, and Arturia return to the dorms and rest…

“Yeah, yeah.” There was no use worrying about Rin Tohsaka. She was much stronger than him after all.

***

“Mom, Chloe is taking my things without asking again!”

“I asked you, but like always, you weren’t listening to me!”

This is what woke Shirou up the next day. Not that it was anything new, the twins were arguing pretty often. There were even times when he considered moving into the dorms and leaving the house to them, but he would feel bad for their parents.

“Stop shouting in the morning, your brother is still asleep.” He could hear their mom’s voice. “He returned late yesterday, let him rest…”

“O-Oh, s-sorry…” This time it was Illya.

“He was supposed to wake up soon anyway,” Chloe replied. “And it’s Illya who’s making a big fuss out of this, I just borrowed a hairpin from her. I’m going to return it, so stop whining.”

“This is why we’re always arguing! For once, listen to what I have to say!”

“You’re all rather noisy, and it’s still so early…” Shirou said, entering the kitchen. “Isn’t it your first day at school today? Shouldn’t you already be leaving the house?”

“We should, but Illya is making a huge drama, like always.” Chloe waved her hand, trying to show that it’s nothing serious. “Good morning, brother.”

“You’re the cause of all of this!” Illya exclaimed firmly. “At least apologize!”

Shirou could never understand what was this all about. They had similar fashion sense and often ended up buying and wearing the same clothes, but if one of them took something that belonged to the other by accident, it was a tragedy.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. Are we okay now?”

“It didn’t sound very honest…”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Beg you for your forgiveness? Hurry up or we’ll be late,” Chloe picked her bag from the ground.

“Since when you’re such a model student?” Illya asked, still pouting.

“Don’t you remember? The headmaster is the Archer class teacher at the same time,” Chloe reminded her. “And I already know I’m an Archer class servant. I can’t be late and leave a bad first impression.”

“That’s fair.” Shirou nodded. “Good luck today. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Don’t worry about anything, brother.” Chloe sent him a mischievous grin. “I’m going to become this school’s star!”

And with that, she ran out of the kitchen.

“Chloe, wait for me!” Illya shouted, grabbing her bag as well. “I’m going to look after her, brother, so don’t worry about anything!”

“They’re both so lively,” Irisviel giggled, waving after her daughters. “They seem much more excited than you at the beginning.”

“That’s because they know what to expect,” Shirou said. “Shouldn’t you be leaving the house soon as well?”

“Don’t worry, I remember,” she replied. Sometimes she could be a little too carefree. “You know, it’s always a big day for a parent, sending their kids to a new school. I can’t wait to ask them how was their first day.”

“You can do it later at school, right?”

“Of course. By the way, Shirou.” Irisviel extended her hand and, surprising him a bit, put it on his head to ruffle his hair. “Good job yesterday. Both me and Kiritsugu are really proud of you.”

“T-There’s no need to flatter me like this,” he muttered, not used to compliments. “I haven’t done much anyway, it’s all thanks to Arturia…”

“We all know even the best servants can’t reach their full potential without a capable master by their side,” she continued. “Keep up the good work and I’m sure you’ll be chosen this year.”

“There’s no use saying this n-now… There’s still a lot of time before the actual tournament.”

“Oh, of course, though I thought it may be nice to motivate you a little,” she said with a smile. “Have a good day at school!” She grabbed her own bag and also directed her steps towards the entrance door.

Despite their extraordinary profession, Shirou’s family was actually rather normal. When everyone around is somehow connected to the magic world it stops being so extraordinary, and all that’s left is an always busy father, kind and loving mother, two very lively younger sisters and him, not really good at anything but still trying his best. Their life was pretty peaceful, or at least as peaceful as it could be, and Shirou loved his not-so-extraordinary family with all he had.

***

When he entered his classroom later this morning, he soon discovered his younger sisters weren’t the only lively people he was supposed to deal with that day. One of them was Shinji Matou, a Rider class master and his classmate… Though he certainly wasn’t a person he would call a close friend.

“So, I was saying Sakura is starting school today-“

“So what? Miyu is too. You’re not the only one with a younger sibling studying here,” a certain blonde girl sighed. Her name was Luviagelita Edelfelt, an Assassin class master. “Everyone knows this is a family profession. You aren’t special, Matou.”

“Emiya beats you even at this, apparently,” Medea, a Caster class servant, commented. “Didn’t he have two younger sisters?”

“Hmm, Illya and Chloe, right? I hope they’ll become friends with Miyu,” Luvia said, completely forgetting about Shinji.

“So you’ll have more occasions for talking with Emiya?” The other girl teased.

“W-What are you talking about? Nonsense!”

“Anyway.” Medea’s partner and boyfriend, Souichirou Kuzuki, didn’t seem interested in what Luvia had to say. “If Emiya’s sisters are anything like him, they’ll probably easily get along with everyone.”

“Which Emiya though? Because that would make quite a big difference,” Shinji muttered.

“Illya is more similar to Shirou, and Chloe is more similar to Emiya,” Rin said, passing him in the doorway. “Are you satisfied with this answer?”

Everyone could tell at first glance that she was tired. Barely raising her feet off the ground, she made her way to her desk and sat down with a sigh.

“Oh, look who finally honored us with her presence,” Luvia snarked. “You look as if you haven’t slept in ages.”

“Unlike you, I’m working my ass off. Some people here have ambitions. Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, Shirou is eavesdropping from the threshold.”

“S-Shirou?!” Luvia jumped a little, elbowing Shinji by accident. Or maybe not by accident? She didn’t seem to like him much. “Good morning!”

“Hey, watch where are you going!” He yelled desperately, just before Luvia turned around and… accidentally pushed him out of the wide open window.

“Shinji?!”

“What about Emiya, Bazett and Cú? Where are they?” Medea asked, ignoring the whole situation.

“Is nobody going to help him?!”

“Calm down, Shirou, he’s still holding by the windowsill. Medusa will catch him when she notices it upon entering the building,” Rin replied. “You know, these guys live in the dorms, so I’m not blaming them for using this to get more sleep. It’s the same for Medusa and Arturia, probably.”

“…and so, I was thinking about getting a dog.” Shirou managed to make out the voice of someone else in this chaos.

“Ohh, what kind of dog? Tell me!”

In the corner on the class were sitting two people, someone who usually wouldn’t get involved in the class drama. Koujirou Sasaki, who out of lack of options became Luvia’s partner as an Assassin class servant, and Enkidu, who was… certainly a much more mysterious person.

He said ‘mysterious’, as if they haven’t spent two years as classmates up until now. Enkidu might’ve seemed mysterious at the beginning, but now… The strange thing about them was that they were definitely a servant, a Lancer class one, but chose to become a master. Out of lack of options again, they became a master of a girl called Ishtar, a Berserker. The concerning thing about this duet was that Ishtar clearly hated Enkidu… Not because of something they did, but because their best friend, a certain asshole called Gilgamesh, turned her down. Somehow she came to blame Enkidu for this…

“I don’t know yet, but preferably a large one,” Sasaki said. Both of them were probably just trying to kill time while not getting involved in the chaos.

“Oh, sounds good! Gilgamesh has big dog, so I often play with it,” they replied with a smile. Enkidu was actually a really nice, serious most of time person. It was another story when Ishtar or Gilgamesh were around though. “Also, good morning, Shirou.”

“Good morning… Well, you look rather tired for a morning,” he muttered, taking his place by the desk next to them.

“Looks like someone here haven’t slept much,” Sasaki commented.

“I can’t deny this,” they sighed. “I was sleeping at Gil’s place… because he decided we have to celebrate the end of the summer break with a video games tournament…”

“So he really became a NEET…”

“He probably has enough money to survive his whole life without having to work,” Sasaki said.

“Sadly… this is true,” Enkidu admitted.

“So, who won the tournament in the end?” Shirou couldn’t stop himself from asking this question.

“Me, but… at what cost…” They replied with a yawn. “The satisfaction from winning against him remains, but I sacrificed my sleep…”

“How many wins against him do you have so far, then?” Sasaki asked.

“It’s a tie right now.”

“I will never understand how you can handle that guy, Enkidu,” Rin spoke up, frowning. “I’m not even surprised he became a useless adult. While father is usually correct, he was wrong to put so much faith in him.”

“You’re talking about last year’s winner, Rin.”

The missing part of their class finally appeared, with Emiya in front. Gilgamesh’s class was Archer, just like his, so he’s always been a bit interested in the older boy’s doings.

“So what? We just need to win this year, in an even more spectacular way, so everyone forgets about him,” Rin replied to her partner, watching him take his place. Arturia and the rest also made their way to their desks.

“Gil won’t be happy about it,” Enkidu commented with a smirk.

“Then just don’t tell him anything. You’re his friend, not spy,” she said.

“Who knows?

That was most likely the reason Shirou thought Enkidu was mysterious. It was difficult to figure them out no matter what.

“Everyone, take your place.” A tired voice reached them from the direction of the door. Shirou didn’t even have to see that person to recognize his father, Kiritsugu. He often sounded like someone wondering what he was even doing with a bunch of kids. “The class has already started.”

“Yes, professor Emiya,” Rin sighed, turning away from Enkidu and Shirou. She also frowned when noticing the girl that entered the classroom at the same time as Kiritsugu… Ishtar always seemed to consider herself better than them and avoided them most of time.

“Before we start… I talked to Tokiomi before I came here and it seems that yesterday four of your classmates completed a very difficult mission. Tohsaka, Emiya, Chullain, McRemitz. Good job,” Kiritsugu said, his face softening slightly at the sight of Rin straightening her back proudly. Despite often acting so coldly, he seemed to like his students a lot. He also acted as their homeroom teacher. “Not only them. Emiya, Pendragon. Congratulations.”

While Arturia looked really content with the praise, Shirou felt more embarrassed than anything…

“Some of you decided to work during your summer break, and those are the results. I hope you all understand what effect this will have on your further education here, especially during your last year,” he continued.

“This isn’t good. I spent almost the whole summer hanging out with Gilgamesh…” Enkidu sighed.

“If my relationship with my servant looked like this I wouldn’t have bothered taking extracurricular missions either,” Bazett whispered to them.

“If any of you is really planning on signing up for the Holy Grail Tournament, then remember… You need to win your rights to participate in it, and the race to prove yourselves has already started. Even though last year none of you managed to win against the third year students, second years are also allowed to try.”

“In their dreams,” Rin muttered. “No inexperienced Archer will steal this chance away from me.”

“Very well then. I also hope they won’t, that would mean I failed as a teacher. Your goal for this year is supposed to be taking part in the tournament and winning it, understood?”

“Yes!” Some people responded with determination in their voices, Arturia being one of them. Shirou could easily guess his last year in this school wasn’t going to be peaceful.

“Also… Where is Matou? Medusa reported to be that she’s going to be absent today, but I haven’t heard anything from him.”

For a moment they all fell silent, remembering the ignored incident from earlier.

“Shirou,” Arturia began calmly. “I think you may attempt to call Irisviel. We’re going to need a doctor.”

 


	2. "Nothing good ever happens when you follow Astolfo"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Sieg's time!

Sieg was staring at the map he was holding in his hands and squinting, trying to figure out which way he should go. This city was pretty much completely unknown to him, and said map wasn’t making getting to his destination any easier… He switched the shoulder he was carrying his bag on and decided to just ask the first person he meets on his way.

The city he lived in until now seemed much more modern than this one, but he wasn’t questioning it. He understood the reason for this… Mages didn’t seem to like modern technology much, from what he heard. Apparently it was beginning to change thanks to the youngest generation, but the magic community was still rather behind their times.

It was getting pretty late, and Sieg was beginning to think that asking for someone's help might be difficult. He didn't want to stay outside during the night... At some point he even thought he sensed a barrier somewhere nearby, so... a servant fight, maybe? He was a novice when it came to magic, but he knew that if he managed to sense a barrier then it was a poorly done one. Better not to get involved, so he went in another direction.

It would've been easier if he knew anyone here and that person came to pick him up from the station, but he was a transfer student accepted in a hurry... No luck for him. If he stayed lost any longer he would probably start questioning if it was the right choice to accept this scholarship at all…

That’s when he finally noticed someone. A single person emerged from one of the backstreets, more running than simply walking. They were wearing a skirt and had a long, pink braid, so he assumed it was a girl.

“This is bad… This is bad…” He could hear her talk to herself. “I’m going to be sooo late… This is bad…”

“Hey!” Sieg called out to her, making her stop and turn to him with a surprised face. “I m-mean… Excuse me…”

“You’re talking to me?” She pointed at herself, tilting her head. “Oh, right, there’s no one else here, of course! Sorry for this. Can I help you with anything? I’m in a bit of a hurry, but if you need anything then I’ll do my best to help you!”

“If you’re in a hurry then I won’t bother you…” Sieg said, a little disappointed. He just wanted to finally find the dormitory building…

“No, no, it’s fine, let me help you!” The girl approached him and took his free hand in hers. “If I don’t make it to the dorms before they close the door I will just call Jeanne so she opens the window for me!”

“Window…?” Sieg frowned for a moment. “Wait, dorms…? Are you maybe a student of the Fuyuki Academy…?”

“Yup!” She smiled at him brightly and moved a few steps back. “A second year Rider class servant, Astolfo! That’s me! Nice to meet you! Also, what’s your problem? Can I solve it somehow?”

“The dorms… That’s exactly the place I’m trying to find,” he said, getting his hopes up again. “You don’t have to get out of your way, just let me go with you.”

“Oh. Oh!” Astolfo exclaimed, her smile even brighter. “Are you a new student? A servant? A master? Which one is it?”

“A master…” Sieg unconsciously rubbed the hand that held his command spells with his fingertips.

“That’s awesome!” She replied, taking his hand again. “Let’s go then! With me, you won’t ever get lost! Do you want me to help carrying your bag? You look tired…”

“It’s fine, you don’t need to…”

“Look, I’m still full of energy, so it’s fine! But if you say no, then no, I guess,” she laughed, pulling him along. “To be honest, I also got lost when I first arrived here, so you don’t have to feel bad about it.”

“You’re not just trying to comfort me…?”

“’Nope! Hmm… I would be faster to just call upon my hippogriff so it would take us to the dorms, but I don’t think it would be safe for you, even with me… I’m not this reliable.”

“I’m already grateful to you for helping me,” Sieg said, letting her lead him by the hand and thinking about how lucky he was to run into her. He really was tired, but Astolfo was so energetic that he felt somewhat better.

“There’s no problem! It’s always better to have company, right?” She replied. “And won’t it be easier for you to get used to living in the dorms if you have someone you know?”

“Oh. You’re right.” He smiled a little at that thought. Of course, knowing someone makes things easier, especially if they’re as willing to help as Astolfo was.

“There’s a lot of different people living in there, but most of them are nice people, I think,” she continued to talk. “There are some you should be careful around, for example Mordred or Semiramis, but there’s always Jeanne to keep them in check.”

She started describing some of her friends, or maybe classmates, and despite listening to her carefully it was impossible for Sieg to understand all of it. The thing that he understood in turn was that time was passing surprisingly fast while listening to Astolfo’s words.

“Okay, we’re here!” She stated proudly, stopping in front of massive, still open gates. “We managed to get here before the curfew, full success!”

“T-Thank you…”

“It’s alright! You don’t talk much, but you seem like a nice guy! I wish you I could have a roommate like you, but apparently no sane person can handle me, haha…”

“Like me…?”

“Yeah, there’s something about you that makes me like you. Do you have a roommate already?”

“I don’t, but… can boys be roommate with girls?”

Astolfo fell silent for a moment, looked at Sieg, then looked back at herself. And then burst out laughing.

“Y-You… thought I’m… a-a girl this whole time?” Astolfo asked the surprised boy.

“Well, yes…?”

“I-I’m sorry… but t-this is so funny… because I’m not.”

“…”

“No, honestly, I’m a guy,” Astolfo stated, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. “You’re not the first one to be surprised about this, but I just like wearing clothes like this. They’re cute, aren’t they?”

“I… I’m…”

“Anyway, I don’t even know your name. I realized I forgot to ask about it,” he said. “So? What is it?”

“…it’s Sieg,” he managed to push his shock aside and reply normally. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sieg?” For a second his new friend’s eyes widened.

“Is something the matter?”

“N-No, not really. I just found your name weirdly familiar, but I have a classmate called Siegfried, so maybe that’s why?” Astolfo wondered. “Oh well. Since we’re already here, let’s find your room so you can finally rest!”

“Okay…”

He followed Astolfo inside the building. He was aware he should probably talk to the dorms’ managed first, but he was kind of overwhelmed by all of this so he just let himself be dragged along.

“Hello everyone! I’m back!” Astolfo shouted, only to be greeted with an annoyed answer.

“Shut up there, pinkie.” The person who said it was slowly climbing up the stairs, seemingly tired. “You don’t have to yell like this each time. I don’t care anyway.”

“You’re always like this, Mordred,” Astolfo laughed.

“Oh shut up.”

“Maybe later. Have you seen miss Fujimura?”

“She’s probably hanging out at Emiya’s place again… That useless manager.” Said tired (or maybe just annoyed?) person sighed. They had blonde hair tied into a ponytail and was wearing baggy clothes. “But she told me that if I see that new person that’s supposed to be late I should give them their key. So, here.”

And so, they threw the little metal object at Sieg, probably not even putting most of their strength into this, and it still seemed to be a little too much.

“Sieg, to the ground!” Astolfo yelled, pulling him down anyway, so the key flew over their heads and made a hole in the wall, big enough for it to get stuck there. “Are you insane?!”

“Wait, how that bastard Shakespeare would put it?” Mordred scratched their forehead, seemingly thinking. “Sane or not, does it really matter?”

“God, sometimes you’re so thoughtless! You’re a servant, putting so much force into this could’ve killed him!” He shouted at them, getting up to a sitting position.

“You were there, so I wasn’t worried,” they replied. “I’m frustrated and needed to vent that out somehow. Anyway, I don’t feel like dealing with your noisy ass today, bye.”

“Hey!” Astolfo called out to them again, but they just climbed the stairs and disappeared from their sight. “Sorry that this is how you had to meet Mordred…”

“I guess we won’t become good friends…” Sieg muttered.

“It’s hard to tell if Mordred is good friends with anyone besides their master,”’ he sighed in response. “They probably wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t here, but still… That was dangerous…”

Sieg didn’t even have the time to proceed the fact that he almost got murdered with a key to his own room. Everything was too confusing for his tired brain.

“Anyway.” Astolfo moved towards the hole in the wall on his knees and tried to get the key out. “It looks like it’s still intact. Room 23… Oh, that’s the same floor that I live on. Let’s go.”

This time the pink-haired boy picked his bag up without even asking if he needed help, then extended his hand to him with a smile. He took it without hesitating much. Something about Astolfo was really soothing…

“Let’s see…” He muttered while climbing the stairs. “We have an elevator here, but we rarely use it, to be honest. It’s mostly Fiore who does, but she doesn’t live in the dorms, she just visits her friends… Oh, we’re here!”

Sieg was of course looking around the whole time. Everything looked much more fancy than he expected, making the dormitory building look more like an expensive hotel than simply a student house.

“Hey, Atalante!” Astolfo waved at a green-haired girl standing in front of an open door and talking to someone. He ran up to her immediately. “Are those cookies I see?!”

He snatched one from the plate Atalante was holding but got rewarded with a hit on the top of his head before he could eat it.

“Don’t you dare, you uncultured brat!” She said. “We worked hard to make them and they’re for the new students, not you!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Astolfo laughed. “I guess everything will be fine if I just give it to Sieg, right? He’s also new!” And so, without any warning, he shoved the cookie into Sieg’s mouth as soon as he caught up to him. “Is it good? You have to tell me, since she won’t give me one.”

Sieg barely managed not to choke on it, but… “Y-Yeah… Thank you…”

“Oh, if you want another one then go ahead. Me, Fiore, Fran and Jeanne made them to greet the newcomers,” Atalante stated.

“They’re delicious, thanks!” An orange-haired girl standing in the doorway commented. “Man, everyone is so nice here! Aside from my roommate, but I’ll get uses to this!”

“Shut up!” Someone from the inside of the room threw a pillow at her. “Change your room, now!”

“Nope!” She grinned at that person. “I like it here! And nice to meet you, Atalante-senpai!”

 “What about me? I’m your upperclassman too! My name is Astolfo, nice to meet you!”

“Y-Yeah…”

“You,” Atalante turned to Sieg. “You look exhausted. This guy can be really tiring sometimes… You should go and rest.”

“Oh, yeah! I think your room should be there!” Astolfo pointed at one of the doors. “It’s two doors to the right from my room, so if you need anything, you can talk to me!”

“Don’t. Talk to Jeanne, room 15,” Atalante added. “Good night, rookie.”

“Yeah, talk to you later, Sieg!”

He took his bag from Astolfo and waved at the group awkwardly. They indeed seemed nice, and he felt like he could actually become friends with the pink-haired boy, but… not that day.

It didn’t take him long to fall asleep that night.

***

He realized he forgot to set an alarm the moment someone knocked on his door the next morning. He didn’t even unpack his things… even worse, he fell asleep without changing his clothes. He felt a little ashamed for opening the door in this state, but what other choice did he have?

The person awaiting him on the other side was a blonde girl with really long hair. She had kind of similar hairstyle to Astolfo… She was wearing a white shirt with a blue tie and a blue skirt that looked pretty much like a uniform.

“Good morning. You’re Sieg, right?” She asked with a smile. “You probably don’t know me, but I’m Jeanne. Jeanne D’Arc, a Ruler class servant.”

“Oh.” A quiet sound escaped his mouth.

“Is something the matter?” Jeanne seemed to notice that.

“I already heard your name before. Someone mentioned you.”

“Oh, so that’s it.” She clapped her hands. “Nice to meet you, Sieg. I’m the class rep of the class you’ll be joining since today. I was requested by our homeroom teacher to accompany you today, so you don’t feel too lost.”

“Ehm… Thank you?” He replied awkwardly. “It’s really nice of you that you agreed…”

“There’s no problem.” Jeanne waved her hand. “It must be stressful for you to suddenly join a class of people who’ve known each other for a year already, especially since you’re new to magic. I’m kind of surprised they made you skip a year and join the second year students, but that must mean you’re just this talented, right?”

“I don’t really think I am…” Sieg admitted, lowering his gaze and staring at the floor. “I’m not sure if I’ll keep up with you…”

“Don’t say things like this. It’ll be fine if you just believe in yourself! Also, I’m always here if you need help.”

_Another surprisingly nice person, huh…_

“Thank you, Jeanne.” He tried to smile back at her, but wasn’t sure if he succeeded.

“Like I said, there’s no problem, Sieg. I’ll leave you alone now and wait for you in dining hall, okay? Seems like I woke you up.”

That finally reminded him of his yesterday clothes and overall messiness, making him feel even more ashamed.

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay, don’t worry. See you later,” Jeanne replied, turning away and leaving him alone. All he could do was sigh to himself, thinking about he kept messing things up after only just arriving there.

“Wait a moment…” He muttered quietly. “I’m a second year…?”

A second year. Just like a certain someone… Well, he would find out if it’s true eventually.

About an hour later he was letting Jeanne guide him to the school grounds, as he still had no idea where it was. She said it was really close, but… Everything was much too chaotic for him to feel comfortable with this…

“So, you’re a master, Sieg?” She asked him, probably to break the silence. Unlike when he was with Astolfo yesterday, Jeanne didn’t seem to be much of a talkative person. Not that she was shy, she just liked to get straight to the point without forcing him to chat with her pointlessly.

“Uhm, yes…” He answered awkwardly. “A… A lone master can’t achieve anything on their own, right?”

“Pretty much yes, but I’m sure you’ll find a great partner,” she said warmly. “In our class there’s a few servants who haven’t made a contract with anyone yet. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up becoming a friend with one of them?”

“What about you? Do you have a partner?”

“I don’t need a partner,” she stated, giving him a hard to read look. “I’m an abnormal servant, powerful enough on my own.”

“Oh…”

Maybe he shouldn’t have thought that, but… She was rather fortunate. He didn’t have any real power on his own… And there was a chance he wouldn’t find a partner, too.

“Look, Sieg, we’re here!” She pointed at the enormous building that finally appeared in their sight. It wasn’t his first time seeing it, he visited it once before, but the impression was still there. “Come on, you don’t want to be late on your first day, right?”

He probably seemed like a very boring person to her, barely replying and just following her, but he couldn’t help feeling self-conscious about his situation. All the things he was seeing were astonishing, but were only making him feel more out of place…

“I said that, but even if we’re a bit late, nothing would happen,” she stated after a while, leading him upstairs.

“R-Really?” He asked, a little surprised that someone who seemed like a model student would say something like this.

“It depends on the teacher,” Jeanne replied with a smile. “Our homeroom teacher is professor Iskandar. Sometimes it means that we have it easier than other classes.”

“You don’t look like someone who’d take advantage of that.” Sieg muttered before he managed to stop himself. “Sorry…”

“You’re actually right. I used to be like that, but it seems that some people have bad influence on me,” she stated with a sigh. “I hope they won’t do it to you too soon…”

Finally, they stopped in front of a classroom.

“It seems like we’re really a bit late,” Jeanne muttered. “My bad. I should’ve woken you up earlier… But don’t worry about anything. Now I’m just going to introduce you, you can talk with everyone during the break.”

That was what he was the most afraid of. He wasn’t going to fit in, was he…

That’s when Jeanne opened the door and walked in, grabbing his hand in the meantime and dragging him inside.

“Good morning, everyone. I am sorry for being late, but I had to take care of our new classmate,” she said, sounding more serious than before. “You were informed about it earlier, but let me officially introduce him. This is…”

“Oooh! It’s you!” A familiar, enthusiastic voice resounded in the classroom, making him raise his gaze from the floor. “Sieg!”

“Astolfo...?” He muttered, and that was exactly the person who just made so much noise. He even stood up from his place, nearly making his chair fall over. He looked very happy though.

“So you’re the new student? Awesome!” Astolfo exclaimed, smiling at him brightly. “Hey, professor! Can Sieg sit next to me?”

“Oh, so you know each other?” A muscular red-haired man spoke up, making Sieg realize the teacher was really already in the class. “That’s nice! It’s good to have friends!”

“We’re not exactly…” Sieg tried to explain, but Astolfo was faster.

“Yeah, I agree! Sieg, come here, there’s a free seat!”

“Didn’t this one belong to Celenike?” A brown haired girl asked, making Astolfo realize his mistake, but… it didn’t look like he was about to change his mind.

“She’ll sit somewhere else if she comes. She often skips classes anyway,”  he replied.

“Hey, pinkie, wasn’t she your master? Give her more respect.” Sieg recognized the snickering person as Mordred. They were sitting by the desk behind Astolfo.

“Respect? I don’t want to hear this from you,” a sunglasses-wearing guy sitting next to them said. Maybe their master…?

“Come now, I don’t see any problem here. Let’s just let Sieg sit there for now,” a white haired boy commented with a smile that made him a little uneasy. “Celenike is absent, so there’s no point in arguing.”

Not knowing what to do, Sieg looked at Jeanne.

“Just sit wherever you want,” she sighed, directing her steps towards another empty desk, in the last row, on Mordred’s other side. “And you, dress properly. A hoodie over a sports bra isn’t something you should wear to school.”

“Fuck off, oh Holy Maiden.”

“Language, Mordred.”

“Please, fuck off. Amen.”

“I don’t think that’s where the problem lies,” Astolfo muttered, frowning at them.

“Hey, professor, why don’t you remind them we’re in class?” Some boy with glasses said, but professor Iskandar didn’t seem to mind.

“Come on, it’s the first lesson of this semester. I didn’t intend to do anything serious today, so there’s no need to rush them,” he exclaimed.

“That’s not what I meant…”

Still full of hesitation, Sieg followed Jeanne’s example and made his way towards the empty desk next to his new pink-haired friend and in front of her. Meanwhile the class rep put her bag on her chair, opened it and started looking for something.

“Oh no… Here it goes…” Astolfo whispered.

“What do you mean…?”

“Jeanne’s emergency t-shirt.”

Just when he said it, Jeanne pulled a black t-shirt out of her bag and threw it at Mordred. “Here. Wear it.”

“Why should I?! Why do you keep doing this?!” They shouted angrily, grabbing the piece of clothing. Despite that they spread it to look at it. It had a caption “0 days since my last nonsense”. “Hey, I actually like this one.”

And so, they unzipped their hoodie completely, took it off and put the t-shirt on, without further complaining.

“Jeanne always has at least one on her, in case Mordred dressed inappropriately for school. It happens fairy often, so Jeanne’s emergency t-shirts became something normal in this classroom,” Astolfo explained, clearly amused.

“Is it really this funny? Do you want to show me what you’re wearing under that bunny hoodie?”

“Eh?” He automatically zipped it further. “You can’t make me!”

“I wouldn’t even try to…” Jeanne sighed, finally sitting down. “Just wear normal clothes, please…”

Sieg was only watching this scene, more and more surprised by what his new classmates were turning out to be like. And that their teacher seemed to find all of this funny and laughed louder than anyone else in the class.

“Before you ask… Yes, they’re always like this,” a guy sitting in front of Sieg turned to him and said this. “These two never learn…”

“Oh…”

“Pssst, this is Siegfried, I mentioned him to you yesterday,” Astolfo added quietly.

“Oh, so you’re talking about me behind my back?”

“As if there was something you should be worried about! Everyone knows Siegfried never does anything wrong!”

“What kind of world are you living in…? Sieg, you shouldn’t listen to him. Nothing good ever happens when you follow Astolfo.”

“Hey, that’s mean!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sieg replied jokingly, hoping the pink-haired boy would understand he didn’t mean it.

“Okay, since we’re not doing anything useful anyway, let’s at least talk about something!” Their teacher exclaimed, ignoring the chaos at the back of the classroom. Sieg imagined his first day there a little differently, but it seemed that he somehow fit in…? Even if only a little, that’s still something. “It’s only the beginning of the school year, but I need to ask this question sooner or later, since you’re second years now.”

“Hell yeah!” Mordred yelled, leaning forward. “Go ahead, ask us!”

“Oh no,” Astolfo let out a sigh. “So it’s starting this soon…”

“It’s unlikely that you’ll get chosen over the third years, but you’re free to try!” Professor Iskandar laughed. “I like brave young people, so you have my full support. So, everyone who’s planning on participating in the Holy Grail Tournament, raise your hands!”

“Us, it’s us! Right, Shishigou?!” Mordred turned to the guys sitting behind them and grabbed his elbow, raising his hand forcefully.

“Be quiet! Of course it’s us, but I can raise my hand on my own!”

They weren’t the only ones. Actually, a lot of people raised their hands, and it seemed that in most cases only one person from a team did it. It was still a lot… There was that brown-haired girl, who exchanged nods with a tall, long-haired boy. That white-haired did so too, and it looked like his partner was that girl dressed in black only. It would be easier if he knew their names… A person he actually managed to recognize was Atalante.

“Hey, and why are you two raising your hands? You don’t even have masters!” Mordred directed their words at the mentioned girl and one more person, sitting close to her.

“Even if we don’t, we can always temporarily team up with each other, right, Atalante?” The guy replied.

“That’s the plan,” Atalante stated in a rather cold voice. “We don’t really care about which team we’d become, the Archer or the Rider one.

“It would probably be easier to aim for the Rider one, considering who are you competing against among the third years,” someone else spoke up. “But it seems that there’s someone else hoping for this position.”

Everyone suddenly looked at Astolfo, who was reluctantly raising his hand.

“You don’t look to enthusiastic…” The brown-haired girl commented.

“Because he’s obviously not, Fiore,” Jeanne added.

“Come on, guys, we all know this guy would be more than enthusiastic if only he didn’t have to be Celenike’s partner,” Mordred laughed. “Not that I can’t understand it, she’s a bitch.”

“Mind your own business,” Astolfo said in response. “If she wants to participate, then I’ll do my best. It’s simple.”

“No arguing in my class, kids,” professor Iskandar said. “Also, I see someone very unique who also wants to participate. Jeanne?”

Earlier nobody seemed to notice she also raised her hand, since she was sitting in the last row, but she was still holding it in the air. Sieg recalled that she told him her class when introducing herself. An abnormal servant, Ruler.

“Yes, professor. After what happened last year, I want to take part in this tournament myself and at least try to keep an eye on its events,” she explained.

“What happened last year…?” Sieg whispered to Astolfo.

“Ah? Nothing in particular. It was a bit chaotic at first… and then Gilgamesh showed up and kicked everyone’s asses… But I think that’s all?”

“Hmm, that could be really interesting!” Their teacher exclaimed with a bright smile. “This whole tournament is a really old tradition, so it wouldn’t hurt to have some new elements there. Good luck, kid. Also, I’m glad to see that so many of you are ready to fight your upperclassmen. Courage is the most important in this profession!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about it…” Someone in the front muttered, but got ignored.

“So, consider this school year started, and do your best!”

Sieg didn’t know what he was supposed to think, but he could already tell he ended up in the middle of something crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing - I'm using gender neutral pronouns when it comes to Mordred in this fic! Them being non-binary is just my personal headcanon, so please don't mind that~


	3. "She’s definitely a good person, deep down"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a while... Sorry, I'm kind of a slow writer ;;;   
> Any F/GO players here?

„So... we finally arrived.”

„Yeah.”

“I can’t believe we’re finally here, brother. Can you pinch me?”

“I don’t really want to…”

Two teenagers were standing in the middle of the railway station, holding their large bags and looking around carefully. They seemed to be around the same age… and they actually were. Even more, they were siblings. Let’s take one step further – they were twins, despite not looking very similar.

“Well, whatever!” She exclaimed. “If it’s really happening, then we’ll play along, right?”

“What other choice do we have?” He sighed. “Come on, we have to find the dormitory building. The sooner we do it, the more time we’ll have to look around.”

“It’s still pretty early though. Getting there can’t take that much time…” The sister said, but followed her twin anyway. They quickly got out of the station and ended up on some unknown street. “Man, this city sure looks retro…”

“You’re just complaining now. It’s a normal city.”

“And that’s why there is no signal?” She waved her phone in front of his face. “Mages don’t like technology… Sure, but we’re just amateur mages and I would like to get my internet back.”

“Soon we’ll probably have so much to do that we won’t have time to miss our technology,” he replied, for a moment not looking where he’s going…

And that was a fatal mistake. His sister could exactly recognize the moment he realized he was about to fall from the look on his face. Then she heard a loud thump and he was already lying on the ground, face-down.

“Brother!? You alive?!”

“Are you okay?!”

The last voice belonged to someone neither of them could recognize. The boy managed to raise his head somehow, only to see a girl about their age, leaning down with a worried expression. Pink hair was covering half of her face and she was also carrying a huge bag…

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about me…” he muttered.

“Your nose is bleeding, brother.”

“Huh?! Seriously?!” He brought his hand to his nose to confirm that he, in fact, was bleeding.

“Wait, let me take care if this…” The stranger girl reached inside her bag and pulled out a bag of tissues. She took one and gently pressed to his face. “We have to stop the bleeding…”

“You don’t have to worry about him so much, it’s not the first and not the last time he got a nosebleed,” his twin sister laughed. “Anyway, with that bag you don’t seem like a local. Are you maybe a student of the Fuyuki Academy?”

“Starting tomorrow, I am…” The pink haired girl replied, meeting her eyes. “Are you possibly…”

“New students as well, yeah!” She showed her a peace sign. “I guess there’s a possibility we’re going to be classmates. How do you feel about it, brother? You already made a fool out of yourself in front of a potential friend!”

“I don’t really like your phrasing…” He muttered, taking the tissue from said ‘potential friend’. “It was your fault anyway…”

“It’s okay, I’m not going to think badly of you because of that,” the girl said, looking a little surprised by the possibility that it could happen.

“I’m just teasing him. We’re siblings after all, that’s a normal thing. Anyway! It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ritsuka Fujimaru, a future master!”

“Uhm… Nice to meet you, senpai. I’m Mash… Mash Kyrielight. A servant,” she replied. “And you…?”

“Oh, me?” The other twin muttered. “Ehm… Don’t laugh.”

“Why should I…?”

“My name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, too.”

“Huh?”

“Hilarious, isn’t it? We share the same name!” The girl Ritsuka laughed. “Our parents probably thought this would be a great joke.”

“So you’re just…”

“To be completely fair, our names are written with different kanji…” The boy sighed. “So technically they aren’t the same.”

“But what should I call you then?” Mash gave them a confused look.

“Ah, it’s fine to call my brother Ritsuka. And I… shall go by the name Gudako!” She exclaimed enthusiastically, striking a pose she thought looked cool, but Mash didn’t seem impressed.

“Gud…ko? Does that mean anything?”

“Hmm, you have to be at least level three bond to unlock my childhood flashbacks!”

“You’re scaring her…” Ritsuka commented.

“Let me remind you that you’re the one bleeding, not me. Anyway, Mash, are you by any chance  looking for the dormitory building as well?” Gudako asked the girl, ignoring her brother.

“Well, I’m heading there… But I already know where it is. I checked it beforehand with two of my friends. It was during the summer vacation.” She explained. “We’re from a neighborhood town, so we know this place quite well.”

“That’s awesome! You could give us a tour later,” the brother suggested, making Mash blush a little.

“I’m worried that a tour with me wouldn’t be much fun, but if you need one, I’m ready to help…”

“You’re a really nice person, Mash!” Gudako grabbed her hands and squeezed them, embarrassing her even more. “Let’s drop our things at the dorms and hang out!”

“O-Okay…”

“Brother, how long are you going to sit there? Now that we have a guide, let’s go!”

“Stop rushing me… Do you think they have an infirmary in the dorms?”

“You’ll find out if you hurry up!”

She grabbed her earlier dropped bag and looked at Mash expectantly, so the girl just smiled and pointed her hand at the direction they should go in. After Ritsuka finally got up from the ground, they began moving again.

Everything seemed so exciting to her. They took an early train on purpose, so they could see the city during the day, when it was still full of life. A magic town… There were a few of them around the world, but this one was famous because the Academy was located there. Also, they were raised as normal people, so that was all new. Of course she’d become excited!

And so, she ended up running ahead of Mash and her brother, making them call out to her each time they needed to turn some other way. Apparently she had too much energy for her own sake…

“You know, Mash… We’ve always wanted to come here. We even used to play this game where we pretended to be masters and servants with other kids in the neighborhood. That’s why she’s so enthusiastic.” She overheard Ritsuka talk to Mash.

“It’s fine, senpai. I’m not even surprised. I know that to a lot of people this is like a dream come true,” she replied.

“And to you it isn’t…?”

“I… I’m not sure, to be honest. I think I’ll have to figure it out with time.”

So there were people like this too, huh. She herself was just determined to do her best, that’s all. Though… maybe she was a bit concerned about finding a partner. A lone master couldn’t achieve anything, after all.

“We’re here,” Mash said, stopping in front of a massive gate leading to a rather large building.

“That’s… a lot more than I expected,” Ritsuka commented honestly.

“So cool… And we’re supposed to live here from now on? Brother, we need to take photos and send it to everyone later.”

“I think it’s amazing, too… Let’s go inside,” Mash suggested, taking lead. The twins followed her, both looking around with just as much curiosity as during their walk through the city.

“Yhm… Good morning?” The pink haired girl said when they entered the building. Gudako was vaguely aware they should probably announce their arrival to the dorms manager first…

But the person who answered them didn’t look old enough to be the manager.

“Ah, hello! Are you perhaps new students?” An unknown to them girl asked cheerfully, turning away from what looked like a notice board. She had long, blonde hair combed into a braid and blue eyes.

“Pretty…” She couldn’t stop herself from commenting.

“Yes, but behave yourself,” Ritsuka elbowed her gently. “Y-Yeah, we are, and…”

“What happened to your nose?” The girl either didn’t hear that, or decided to ignore it. “It doesn’t look too good…”

“He fell on his face,” Gudako giggled.

“You probably shouldn’t laugh at him. What if that happened to you?” She replied with a kind of rebuking tone, but still gently.

“He would laugh too, I’m pretty sure. He’s my brother.”

“Oh.” The girl’s eyes widened, and then she hung her head as if she remembered something that bothered her. “Then it’s okay, I think… As long as you’re not arguing… I’ve had enough of people with sibling issues…”

“Uh… are you okay…?” Ritsuka asked, bringing her back to reality.

“Y-Yeah, of course. But you aren’t, right? Come with me,” she said with an inviting gesture. The three of them exchanged looks, but followed her anyway.

She lead them down the corridor on one side of the stairs, to a small room that turned out to be something like an infirmary.

“So you really have one, huh…” Gudako commented, looking around. “This place is unreal…”

“We need a room like this, since we often come back injured from our missions,” the blonde girl explained. “Sit here, I’ll get something from the cabinet.”

“So it really is dangerous…” Mash muttered.

“It may be, but that’s something we all know about, but still decide to follow this path.” She sat down on one of the chairs, in front of Ritsuka, holding a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a gauze. “It’s okay to be scared. It’s nothing impressive not to be afraid… The more impressive thing is overcoming your fear. Warning, this may sting a bit.”

The two girls just watched her treat Ritsuka. It wasn’t hard to come to a conclusion she was kind of cool… She was probably an upperclassman, considering her behavior.

“I haven’t introduced myself yet, right? Sorry for that. I’m Jeanne d’Arc, a second year. Welcome to the Fuyuki Academy.”

This time they introduced themselves properly, even Gudako being a little intimidated. She was glad they ran into someone responsible first, not someone equally airheaded as her, but that meant having to behave herself…

“You probably want to talk to manager Fujimura, but she happened to be away. I can offer you my help in her stead,” Jeanne stated.

“Woah, so you’re even more reliable than the actual manager? That’s awesome!” She exclaimed. “Are you allowed to give us the keys to our rooms?”

“To be honest, getting them wouldn’t be hard even if I wasn’t here,” the older girl sighed. “Manager Fujimura just gives them to other students to pass them to the actual locators…”

“Wow, that’s… irresponsible.”

“That’s just how it is here. Okay, I’m finished with fixing your face, Ritsuka,” Jeanne said, putting a band-aid on his nose with a smile. “You probably want to take your things to your rooms, right? Let’s go.”

On their way to the manager’s office they learned that miss Fujimura was often absent, hanging out with professor Emiya, his wife and kids. Apparently they were old friends and she was basically a part of the family.

“Oh, it seems like all of you are going to have roommates,” their guide stated, looking through some notebook she found on the table. “And they all arrived before you…”

“Even earlier? How early they had to get up?” Gudako asked with a surprised voice. “Also… Judging from your face, mine is not Mash…”

“Sadly, no.” Jeanne gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s a girl called Olga Marie Animusphere… Hmm, I think I heard that name before?”

“Oh no…” Mash muttered under her breath. “Good luck, senpai.”

“Eh? What? What does that mean? Don’t leave me hanging like this, Mash!”

“Mash, your roommate is going to be Marie Antoinette… Oh, she’s from France, just like me.” She smiled when saying her name. “I should talk to her later.”

“What about me?” Ritsuka asked hesitantly.

“Hmm… Romani Archaman. Though a name probably won’t tell you much…”

“Oh, I actually know him,” Mash said. “He’s… a friend of mine.”

Ritsuka frowned. “Why did you hesitate before calling him a friend?”

“You’ll see,” she sighed. “He’s a good person though, you can relax, senpai.”

“Mash seems to have an awful lot of connections. Who’s that Olga Marie girl? Who is she!?”

“Here, your keys. Will you be able to find your rooms alone? When I met you I was about to start looking for a certain someone… with sibling issues,” Jeanne explained, going back to that resigned expression from before. “I wish I could stay with you longer, but…”

“It’s okay,” Gudako interrupter her. “We’re probably going to be fine with someone as reliable as Mash. Thanks for all your help!”

“No problem!” Jeanne patted her head in a friendly gesture. “See you later, then.”

She left the room, trying to smile, but it was so obvious that said ‘certain person’ was really bothering her. The trio exchanged looks once again, and then…

“So? Who’s Olga Marie?”

***

They decided to split up for a bit and see their rooms on their own before going to the city together. Ritsuka and Mash’s were apparently on the same floor, but on a different one than hers… It was kind of disappointing, to be the only one left out. She was trying to make herself feel better with thinking that they had to climb the stairs longer than her.

And so, she was standing in front of the door to room number 20. In the end Mash didn’t tell her who Olga Marie Animusphere was, and  she was going to find that out on her own. The hair on the back of her neck spiked in nervousness.

After about two minutes of standing there, she finally pressed the handle and opened the door. It was also her room from now on, there was no reason for her to be afraid…

“…who are you?”

She immediately noticed the white-haired girl sitting on bottom part of a bunk bed. Gudako, a rather simple girl, could easy recognize a high-class lady by just looking at her clothes… Even taking a look at her face would’ve been enough.

_ Pretty,  _ she thought again that day, but…

“Has nobody taught you to knock before entering a room?” The girl’s expression changed instantly, as she frowned and spoke in an annoyed tone.

_ And most likely a witch,  _ she added, sighing heavily. Then she realized it’s probably inappropriate, since everyone could use magic there.

“You know, using some logic, you would’ve figured out that I’m your new roommate. Knocking on the door to your own room would be weird.” She went inside a bit reluctantly, dropping her bag to the floor soon after that.

“Oh, is that so?” Olga Marie narrowed her eyes. “To me that sounds like basic good manners.”

So this is why Mash wished her good luck…

“I’m sorry then,” she sighed again, trying not to sound irritated. It would be out of character for her. “Let’s start again. I’m Ritsuka Fujimaru and we’re going to be sharing a room. Nice to-“

“Olga Marie Animusphere. Don’t get in my way, plain girl,” she replied, cutting her off.

“Oh, I see that someone here is quite sure of herself.”

“Isn’t that obvious? It’s easy to tell you’re not even a proper mage. I have no intentions of wasting my time on you.”

She looked away from her, but when saying that last sentence she gave her a small, hesitant glance, and that ruined the whole effect. Even though Olga was trying to achieve a different result, Gudako started giggling under her breath.

“W-What are you laughing about, you weird girl?” Her roommate asked, clearly confused about this turn of events.

“You’re actually not that bad, right? You just want to show off a bit in front of your new friend? You don’t have to be shy!”

“W-What’s with this nonsense?!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll soon become great friends, even if you’re a little awkward!” Gudako smiled at her, but her smile met up with an angry expression.

“How dare y-“

“All’s fine! Also, like you already said, I don’t have much experience, so bear with me, Miss Better Mage. Let’s be friends!”

Olga Marie apparently was so furious that decided not to answer and just turned back to her stuff. Seeing that the conversation was over, Gudako decided to unpack her clothes and make herself at home. The plus of Olga not talking to her was being allowed to do pretty much whatever she wanted… Though she knew that couldn’t last long.

“Hey. Wanna join me and my friends on exploring the city?” She asked before leaving the room, still having some hope left. “Apparently some of them know who you are…”

“Hmp. I don’t care. Just go.”

“…sure.”

***

“And then she just told me to leave the room. Just like this. How do I even deal with a person like this?!” Gudako ranted to Mash, who came to meet up with her on her floor. Three more people were supposed to wait for them in the lobby though. “Also, why aren’t we using the elevator?”

“Adapt, obey and treat her politely… That’s probably the only way,” Mash said with a sigh. “When I checked the elevator I found a note saying ‘use the stairs, it’s a good training’.”

“Goddammit…” That was a reply to both of those statements. She didn’t like either of them. “But I’m sure I can move Olga’s heart somehow! I just need to be patient! She’s definitely a good person, deep down…”

“I could argue with that…”

The person who said those words wasn’t Mash, but someone waiting at the bottom of the stairs, as they finally reached it. It was a tall boy with long, blonde hair, holding some kind of weird animal. When that strange squirrel noticed Mash it jumped out of his embrace and ran towards the pink-haired girl.

“So that’s where you were, Fou…” She caught the animal and picked it up from the floor. “You just went with Roman…”

“Fou, Fou!”

“Hey, what kind of alien is that?” Gudako asked, pointing at Fou.

“I doubt it’s an alien… But I actually don’t know what kind of animal is this,” Mash said. “I found him and he stayed with me…”

“Is is okay to keep pets in the dorms?”

“Some mages and servants use familiars, so it’s permitted,” the blonde boy spoke up again. “But hey, I know Fou is cute, but could you pay some attention to me too?”

“Don’t listen to him. There’s no reason to do that, senpai.”

“You’re too harsh on him, Mash,” Ritsuka said. “Roman is not that bad of a guy…”

“Thank you, Ritsuka! You’re a good guy!”

“You’re all so funny,” a gray-haired girl commented. When Gudako spotted her, she recognized a high-class lady for the second time that day, but… something about her was very different from Olga. That must’ve been Marie… “Good morning. You must be the second Ritsuka, right? Miss Gudako?”

_ Okay. Time to test her. _

“Whassup! It’s me, nice to meet you!”

“Oh my. What an interesting way to greet someone! Whassup!” She replied with a wide smile.

“You pass…” Gudako put her hand on the girl’s shoulder in a dramatic gesture. “You’re a good high-class lady.”

“Huh?”

“As opposed to Olga Marie, who’s downright evil,” Roman said.

“Hey, I don’t think she’s actually evil… maybe just a little difficult…”

“You really have a lot of optimism, senpai…”

“Before you ask, she’s always been like this,” Ritsuka commented. “Ever since we were little, she could turn anyone into a friend…”

“Haaah? You’re saying this, brother, but you’re exactly the same,” she teased. “Let’s ask Marie. Don’t you think Ritsuka is a really good person?”

“Hmm… I can kind of see it,” Marie said. “It seems that I had the luck of running into the most entertaining people just after arriving here.”

“Speaking of entertaining people… Where’s Da Vinci? I thought Roman would call her, but I guess I was mistaken…”Mash sighed.

“H-Hey, have some faith in me! I didn’t forget about her, she just shut herself in her room with the excuse of having to research something!”

“Let me guess… She doesn’t share her room with anyone?”

“Yeah…”

“That explains everything,” she concluded. “Sorry, everyone, seems like you’ll be able to meet Da Vinci tomorrow… She’s our friend and most likely a real genius, but she’s a little strange.”

“I’ve heard that all Casters are at least a little strange, but most of time they’re just really weird,” Roman said. “Da Vinci is no exception…”

“That’s okay. We already have some experience dealing with weird people,” Ritsuka replied, making his sister nod with a look of understanding.

“Anyway, weren’t we supposed to go conquer the city? Marie, you’re new here too, right? Let’s go, Mash is a good guide!”

The pink-haired girl blushed again and looked as if she wanted to deny it, but in the end she just accepted the compliment and directed her steps towards the door, making it obvious that they should follow her. “I think I can at least show you the main attractions…”

Roman pouted as they left. Nobody thought he was reliable enough to ask for help these days…

***

It looked like she already managed to find friends, and it was only the first day. When returning to her room, she could only think about how fun that little trip was, and how coming back didn’t really sound tempting…

“Hello! I’m back!” She stated loudly, deciding to ignore Mash’s advice from before and do it her way.

“I see that you still choose to ignore my words and get on my nerves,” Olga Marie replied, for a moment looking away from the book she was reading.

“N-No, not really… I just want to see you being less serious someday.”

“Well, sorry for disappointing you.”

Gudako wanted to say something, but then someone knocked on the door to their room.

“I’ll check who it is…” She muttered.  It was late, so she didn’t really expect anyone.

The person waiting on the other side of the door was a pretty, green-haired girl holding a plate of cookies. She smiled at her upon seeing her confused face.

“Good evening,” she said. “I probably surprised you, since you don’t know me, but I just came to welcome you, as your upperclassman. I’m Atalante, a second year. Jeanne told me that you already met her.”

“Ah, so you’re Jeanne-senpai’s friend!” Gudako exclaimed. “Nice to meet you, I’m Ritsuka Fujimaru… And that gloomy girl there is Olga Marie…”

“Jeanne’s friend…” Atalante muttered to herself. She didn’t sound too content with that… “Well, I guess you could say so. Me and some of the girls from my class came to a conclusion, that you might feel better here if you know that you can count on us. That’s why we’re greeting the new students. Here, we made them for you.”

The girl moved the plate closer to her, suggesting to take a cookie, and Gudako, being herself, immediately reached for one.

“Thanks-“

“Hey, Atalante!” Someone on the corridor called out to the older girl and ran towards her at full speed. “Are those cookies I see!?”

Said person, or more like a flash of pink and purple, attacked the plate Atalante was holding, and even managed to snatch one cookie before she landed a hit on their head.

“Don’t you dare, you uncultured brat! We worked hard to make them and they’re for the new students, not you!”

“Sorry, sorry!” They laughed, not looking like her words affected them in any way. “I guess everything will be fine if I just give it to Sieg, right? He’s also new!”

There was someone else walking behind them, a brown-haired boy with tired expression. He couldn’t even react when that pink, hyperactive person shoved a cookie into his mouth.

“Is it good? You have to tell me, since she won’t give me one.”

“Y-Yeah… Thank you…” He muttered without much confidence.

“Oh, if you want another one then go ahead. Me, Fiore, Fran and Jeanne made them to greet the newcomers,” Atalante said.

“They’re delicious, thanks!” Gudako finally spoke up again, deciding it’s the right moment. “Man, everyone is so nice here! Aside from my roommate, but I’ll get used to this!”

“Shut up!” Olga Marie yelled from inside the room, grabbing a pillow from her bed and throwing it at her. It hit the back of her head, but it didn’t hurt, obviously. “Change your room, now!”

“Nope!” She grinned at her mischievously, picking the pillow up. “I like it here! And nice to meet you, Atalante-senpai!”

“What about me? I’m your senpai too! My name is Astolfo, nice to meet you!”

“Y-Yeah…” She muttered, already planning revenge on Olga and not paying much attention to them. There would be another occasion to talk… She watched the boy called Sieg wave them goodbye, took some more cookies from Atalante and then returned to her room.

“I’m going to share with you, don’t worry,” she said to Olga Marie, putting them on the table, and switching her grip to the pillow. “But first let me…”

“What the hell are you-“

“I’m going to give you more reasons to kill me, Animusphere.”

***

“If we’re late, it’s going to be entirely your fault!” Olga shouted at her over her shoulder, as they ran through those few streets separating the dorms and the school building. “Late on the first day! As long as I am Olga Marie Animusphere, I can’t allow myself to be late on the first day!”

“Chill… a bit!” Gudako uttered, trying to keep up with her. Her roommate was surprisingly fast for a high-class lady she took her for… “It’s not like they’re going to expel us…”

“You don’t understand anything! Also, it wouldn’t happen if you didn’t spend so much time in the bathroom on purpose!”

“But then you locked yourself there with my shoes, so I couldn’t leave the room!”

“If we mess up, we do it together! I’m not about to pay the price alone!”

And so they kept arguing until they arrived at the school gate and stopped rapidly. Two other girls, most likely the same age, also did the same.

“See? We’re not the only one late…” Gudako said, trying to catch her breath. “Hello… I assume you’re first years too…?”

“Us? Y-Yeah, we are…” One of them answered. They somehow managed to look similar and really different at the same time, but both had white hair. She was beginning to wonder how many more white-haired girls she would meet… For now the counter was at four. “Hello, I’m Illya-“

“Leave introductions for later, we don’t have the time for this,” the other girl grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the building. “Dad would be disappointed if his buddy told him that his daughters don’t respect his position.”

“You’re probably right, but-“

“Wait…” Olga followed them, what left Gudako with no other option but to do it too. “Dad…? Are you daughters of one of the teachers here?”

“Yeah, we are. Also, not one, but two,” the second girl, not Illya, said. “If you want details, ask later.”

“O-Of course…”

“Hey, Olga, you can hold my hand too, if you want-“

“I will tear it off.”

“I take that back…”

Apparently Illya and her sister knew where they were going, so they decided to trust a teacher’s kids. The corridors they ran through were all empty, so the fear of being late wasn’t exaggerated…  Finally, they arrived in front of the door to the assembly hall. Gudako thought they’re going to sneak in, but it seemed that Illya’s sister had a different idea.

She just opened the door wide and dragged Illya inside.

“Wait, Kuro! What if the headmaster is already inside!?” She cried, but the girl called Kuro didn’t seem to care much.

“Sometimes you gotta take the risk! Look, he’s not here yet, we made it!”

“But what if we-“

“Stop complaining, we have to find some free chairs before Professor Tohsaka appears!”

Gudako, not participating in their banter, had enough time to see that the other first years gathered there were staring at them. But that wasn’t the reason she was looking around... After a moment she finally spotted her brother and Mash, waving at her, and it seemed there were two empty seats next to them. She grabbed Olga Marie’s hand and pulled her in that direction.

“Hey, what are you-“

“Taking advantage of those two attracting everyone’s attention. Please, cooperate…Hello, everyone!”

“What are you doing?” Ritsuka asked immediately. “You’re lucky you managed to get here on time…”

“Senpai, do I have to remind you that both you and Roman overslept and I was the one to wake you up?”

“She didn’t need to know what, Mash…”

The sisters apparently found themselves some seats next to a purple-haired girl in another row, and they managed to do it only a few seconds before the door opened again. This time it certainly wasn’t a late student though.

“Good morning, students,” and elegant-looking guy said, approaching the pulpit, while all the kids in the room seemed to be holding their breaths. Well, maybe except for the white-haired twins from before…

…and them. She could sense that Ritsuka is just as excited as her, they were siblings after all.

And this was the moment their adventure was about to start.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're playing on NA, feel free to send me a friend request!! My ID is 662,021,203~


	4. “Sadly, we’re related, and some things just run in the family”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I last updated this fic, ahaha... But I didn't forget about it! I'm sorry for the long break though, I'm the kind of person who just writes when they feel like it...   
> Here goes the next chapter, this time from Rin's perspective, feat. her dragging Shinji for two paragraphs, Gilgamesh (nobody knows why he's here), and also some other adventures.

Rin Tohsaka certainly was far from being a morning person, and at this point everyone knew about it.

At the beginning of their education at Fuyuki Academy she was still trying to keep up her image of a perfect student, but now… it seemed that there was no point in doing that anymore. Not even trying to suppress her bad mood caused by having to get up that early, she left her house and chose her usual route leading to school.

That day their class was supposed to be taking the training grounds as the first group. It wasn’t always like that, of course – if it was, she would definitely develop a habit of skipping, and then her chances of winning the Holy Grail Tournament would definitely disappear. It was something she couldn’t allow, so, in the end, grumpy and still half-asleep, she entered the café she’d usually visit on her way to school.

That place was pretty popular with the students of the Fuyuki Academy… but not at eight in the morning. Right now, it was almost empty, and Rin was grateful for that. The gloomy lady by the counter greeted her with a nod, and she replied in the same way. There were rumors she was an Assassin class servant… or maybe it was Saber? Rin wasn’t even sure if that was the truth, but she preferred to stay on good terms with her.

“Ah, Rin! Hello!” A cheerful voice resounded in the quiet café, as something pink approached her quickly. She barely stopped herself from sighing and summoned a smile to her face.

“Good morning, Astolfo. Working morning shift today?” She asked the pink-haired boy. He was working as a waiter there, and, like always, was wearing an uniform usually reserved for the female staff. She never questioned it though. It looked pretty good on him, so there was no point in asking him about it.

“Yup!” He nodded. “We get the training grounds in the evening, so I took the morning shift this time. What will it be? The same as usual?”

“Yeah, yeah… You know the best what my preferences are like,” she said, playing the nice upperclassman well. The boy grinned at her widely, turned around and walked away, doing his little jumps. Rin kind of wished she had half as much energy as him in the morning… Finally allowing herself to sigh, she took her usual spot.

After a few minutes, Astolfo returned with a cup of coffee, somehow managing not to trip over his own legs, for what he was notorious.

“Here you go, Rin!” He said cheerfully, placing it in from of her on the table and then taking a chair on the opposite side.

“Thank you, but… don’t you have work?”

“You’re the only customer right now, so don’t worry about it! I’m glad you stopped by, it’s pretty boring when nobody’s around. Jeanne and Sieg will probably visit me later, but just a moment ago I was pretty lonely,” he exclaimed.

Rin always found him a bit strange. Not because of the usual reasons of course, there was something more concerning about her underclassman… Most of the second years treated the third years like rivals that needed to be beaten, but no matter how many times she talked to him, Astolfo never expressed anything like that. He was either too friendly, or just crazy.

“Sieg… Is that the name of the new student in your class?” She asked. It was obvious who Jeanne was, one of the few abnormal class servants, but that other name was pretty unfamiliar to her.

“Yeah, it’s him! We’re friends now!” Astolfo replied with a smile. “He’s still a bit confused about everything, but teachers say he has lots of talent. Now I kind of regret already having a partner… I’m weak, but with a good master probably even I could become stronger.”

“Still not getting along with your master?”

“Not at all,” he sighed. “Most of time I don’t even know what she wants from me. I get it, I can be useless sometimes, but it’s not only about me, right? Teamwork can do miracles, right?!”

“Calm down a bit…” Rin laughed, a bit against her will… Astolfo could be pretty entertaining sometimes. “But you’re right. A master and servant who can’t work together won’t get anywhere. Me and Emiya argue sometimes, but in the end we always find some solution to our problem. If you and Celenike can’t do that… then you should just find another partner.”

It was a genuine advice. With someone so devoid of any bad intentions, she couldn’t just stay indifferent. It was obvious that Astolfo had a lot of potential, but not with a master like that. Also, he was a Rider class servant, so no harm done. He wasn’t a rival to her, but to Shinji, someone she hated… so helping him out was bringing her something like satisfaction.

“It’s easy for you to say! You know well that a servant who willingly breaks a contract with their master will never get rid of their bad reputation,” Astolfo said with a frown.

“Do whatever you want. I just wanted to tell you that I think you could take part in this year’s tournament, but not with her,” Rin replied. “Also, that Sieg boy… Has he made a contract with anyone yet?”

It wouldn’t hurt to get some information out of him. There was an Archer in his class who still didn’t have a stable partner after all.

“Nope!” Astolfo shook his head. “He’s still not really sure about anything… though I hope he gets himself a good partner. Someone like Karna for example! Though Mordred said we should pair him up with Shakespeare during his first time on the training grounds, just to see them fail…”

So that new kid was no threat at all. Excellent. Rin still couldn’t believe how easy it was to make Astolfo talk about anything she’d want to hear, but she wasn’t about to complain. She was lucky to had discovered that source of information.

Soon some other customer entered the café and her underclassman had to leave her alone, so she finished drinking her coffee, paid for it and left, glad that she at least hadn’t woken up so early for nothing. Now it was time to kick someone’s ass as an act of taking out her frustration.

***

They obviously couldn’t all fight at the same time, so the pairs who weren’t sparring were supposed to watch and study the mistakes their classmates were making in order to discuss them later and build a strategy against them, for when their time comes.

But in that case… there was no point in looking for weak points or mistakes. Rin continued to watch Shinji and Medusa to struggle in a battle against Medea and Kuzuki with a bored face, thinking about how painful it was to watch. Technically the class affinity should’ve given the former a slight advantage, but… Shinji was literally that bad at giving orders, and protecting himself, too. He was useless and there was no use denying it. Rin sometimes felt bad for Medusa – the pink-haired Rider’s skills were high above the abilities of her master.

Rin could swear that professor Velvet looked more disappointed than always. As a Rider class master, it must’ve hurt his pride to watch the failure that Shinji Matou was… in his third year, in addition. That’s why there was no way he’d get chosen for the Holy Grail Tournament, no matter how hard he tried. Now it was just a competition between the second year Riders, even though he still didn’t realize that…

“Hahahaha, what a bunch of losers!”

While Rin kept her thoughts to herself, someone else didn’t bother with that.

“The Caster is somewhat decent, but Rider? You must be kidding me!” A certain blonde guy said, loudly enough for almost everyone to hear.

Everyone also agreed, but didn’t want to admit it out loud. Actually, nobody wanted to agree with him.

“Even if you were right…” Rin started, trying to stay calm. “What the hell are you even doing here, Gilgamesh?”

“Got any problem, Tohsaka?” He replied, sending her a half-glare. Maybe even a year ago she would’ve found him intimidating, but now… Let’s just say she knew he was harmless most of time. Especially if Enkidu was around, and they were sitting on the grass just next to him.

“Yes, and you are the problem,” she said. “You’re not a student here anymore. Nobody invited you to come here and make fun of us. Or did you invite him, En?”

“I didn’t. He just tagged along on his own,” Enkidu stated cheerfully, but it was visible they didn’t have anything against Gilgamesh’s presence... Was it the power of childhood friendship, that he could put up with him so easily?

“I’m always invited, Tohsaka. Better remember this,” Gilgamesh said with a smirk. She really wanted to punch him sometimes, but it wouldn’t end well. “Besides, I came here to watch Arturia fight. I have no interest in you.”

“Arturia changed the spot she was sitting at just because you’re here,” Rin sighed, glancing as said girl and Shirou, sitting a few meters away from them.

“There’s no use talking to him, Rin,” Emiya spoke up. “It’s like talking to a wall. He won’t listen anyway.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion, Faker.”

“See? It’s just how it always is.”

“Come on, you two… You could at least try getting along,” Enkidu said. “You’re both Archers, you could learn something from each other.”

“Never disrespect me like this again, Enkidu,” his friend hissed in response.

“Over my dead body,” Emiya muttered on his side.

Rin already knew it was a lost cause. Apparently all Archers had the tendency to be absurdly stubborn… Shirou’s younger sister, Chloe, had it too. Even Shirou himself, despite not being a servant.

“I think Matou and Medusa should rest for a while,” professor Velvet finally said, his disappointment so visible that it was genuinely sad to look at. “Is there anyone who’d like to take their place?”

She was ready to raise her hand and drag Emiya to fight Medea just so she could escape listening to Gilgamesh, but someone else was faster. Arturia’s hand shot into the air before Rin could even try to do anything.

_Well, understandable._

“Very well,” their teacher said. He probably was glad that finally someone competent was walking onto the field…

“Hmm, while Arturia will most likely be fine against Medea, I’m not sure about Shirou,” Enkidu mused, watching them take their positions a few meters away from each other.

“Why?” She asked, raising her brow at that sentence. She knew he worked hard during the summer vacation… since Shirou wasn’t any kind of genius when it came to magic, he could only keep up with everyone thanks to hard work, of course. His field of specialization was very narrow though, so maybe Enkidu was right after all…

Rin had no idea why she was so worried about him. Maybe it was just because Arturia was her best friend and she was rooting for her in the Holy Grail Tournament eliminations? The other Saber class masters… especially Kairi Shishigou, were pretty skilled.

“He can’t use magic very well, right?” Enkidu said. “Well, neither can Kuzuki, to be honest, but when it comes to brute strength in a fight, he’s definitely stronger than Shirou. Even if they manage to split the work, so Arturia takes care of Medea alone, Shirou may not be able to hold Kuzuki back long enough for her to come back and help him…”

“Splitting up would be pretty stupid of them,” Gilgamesh added. “When the balance of battle potential is so uneven, the servant should take protecting the master as their priority.”

“A pretty weird answer when it’s coming from someone like you,” Emiya snarked. “Or was that something you remembered from a textbook?”

“I’m just saying what weaklings like you should be doing. I never had that problem, since I’m the strongest, and only the strongest master can bring out my true potential.”

“So, like, Enkidu?” Cú spoke up unexpectedly. “They’re a master right now, right?”

“Me as Gil’s master? Wouldn’t that be boring? We usually fight each other, not together,” Enkidu replied.

“Oh. So that’s what your relationship looks like. And here I was, wondering how you can even handle him…” Rin sighed, finally realizing her mistake. Of course. Enkidu could be just as brutal as Gilgamesh when it came to fighting. It’s not like she’d never seen a duel between the two of them, and how it ended for the school grounds… The two of them were goddamn monsters when allowed to use their full strength. “Is your friendship only based on this?”

“Are you stupid, Tohsaka? Enkidu is the only one I consider equal, in all fields, not only fighting. Someone like you couldn’t possibly understand the bond we-“ Gilgamesh wanted to continue, but Enkidu put their hand over his mouth, silencing him.

“Friendly rivalry is important for your personal development, Rin,” they said. “Don’t you and Emiya share it with Shirou and Arturia?”

“W-Well, maybe…”

“Shirou Emiya barely knows what to do in a battle and if you consider him a worthy opponent there must be something wrong with you,” Gilgamesh snorted from behind Enkidu’s hand.

“While I hate agreeing with him, he’s right,” Emiya nodded, but Rin ignored both of them and leaned forward.

“Arturia! Shirou! Don’t you dare to lose!” She shouted at them, hearing her partner sigh. Shirou in turn frowned at her.

“You don’t have to tell me that…”

“I’m cheering on you, be grateful!”

She really didn’t know why she cared so much. She had no idea.

“Hey, guys, isn’t that kid Arturia’s little sibling? What are they doing here?” Cú spoke up again, pointing his thumb in the direction of the fence surrounding the training grounds. Rin turned her head towards it and saw a short, blonde figure grasping at the fence with an angry face and a red-haired girl from their class, a little behind them.

Rin knew Mordred pretty well at this point, being friends with Arturia for so long… but it wasn’t because she talked about them. Actually, she mostly avoided the topic of Mordred… Rin simply knew them because of the one-sided rivalry that was between them.

“They probably think they’re spying on Arturia.” Rin shrugged and turned away from the not-so-friendly neighborhood hoodlum. “It doesn’t seem like she cares though.”

“Maybe she should,” Gilgamesh said, glancing at Mordred. “It’s not my problem, I already won everything I could, but that mongrel seems pretty determined. Not that I care!”

“Don’t look at them, look at Arturia,” Emiya muttered. “They’re about to start…”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Faker!”

Rin moved her gaze to the main field, where her classmates stood a few meters away from each other and waiting for a sign to begin. She wasn’t sure who would win. She wanted to say it would be the Saber duet, but she couldn’t say the Caster one was weak.

She was surprised to see that they really split up, just like Enkidu said…

“What an idiot…” Emiya muttered, and Rin was ready to agree, but…

It appeared that they merely split up to separate their opponents and fight them back to back, immediately reacting when the other was in danger. Obviously neither of the duets wanted to go all out and keep how much their improved to themselves, but also neither wanted to lose… and this position was clearly giving Arturia and Shirou advantage. Rin barely stopped herself from pointing it out to Emiya.

“Hey, Faker, wasn’t that your technique?” Gilgamesh said, watching Shirou create another sword, only to let it be shattered a few seconds later. “After all, he’s just another Faker, huh?”

“Sadly, we’re related, and some things just run in the family,” Emiya replied with a sigh. “It looks like learned it recently and wanted to show off. Not like he’s any good at it.”

“But it works surprisingly well,” Rin said. “That’s a huge progress between him before the summer break and him now.”

“If you want me to cheer on him, I’ll have to disappoint you, Rin.”

“No, we’re good. I didn’t expect that much from you.” She had no intentions of forcing them to be buddy-buddy with each other. Actually, she couldn’t even imagine that.

So she went back to watching her classmates, this time with her mind focused on remembering their strong and weak points. Soon it would be the time to make use of them, and listening to Gilgamesh wouldn’t bring her any benefits.

***

In the end, she and Emiya only got to fight Shinji and Medusa, what ended with a quick victory and very little entertainment. Rin had no idea what she woke so early for, especially considering the fact that they still had afternoon classes. She honestly just wanted to go home.

Rin thought that, but she didn’t go home, of course. She directed her steps towards their classroom instead.

“Rin-senpai!” Someone called out to her, and upon turning around, she noticed a purple-haired girl.

Sakura Matou. Originally Sakura Tohsaka, Rin’s biological sister. Got adopted into the Matou family because the rightful heir was completely useless, and since then she was recognized as Shinji’s little sister instead… Though it didn’t mean she wasn’t on good terms with Rin anymore. The Tohsaka family was also constantly making sure if she’s treated well, and that idiot knew well that if he ever as much as tried to bully her, Shirou and Rin herself would kick his ass.

“Hello, Sakura,” she said, smiling as the other girl, despite her bad mood. “How was your first week at this school?”

“Pretty interesting,” Sakura replied cheerfully. “I’m still getting used to everything, but my classmates are pretty nice, and classes are fun.”

“You’re in the same class as Illya and Chloe, right? I hope you’re getting along.”

“I think we are? Though it’s been only a few days, so I can’t know for sure,” she laughed a little. “They’re very… lively, for sure.”

“Just say ‘loud’,” Rin sighed. “This family never knows when to stop, I already know this… But they’re pretty dependable, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I know, they’re Shirou-senpai’s sisters after all.” Sakura nodded, and Rin wondered why the hell would Shirou be a good example to them, and in what way.

“That aside, do you have any ideas what you want to do at this school? Any potential partners?” She asked.

“I think it’s too early to talk about it… I’m definitely a master though. I should be able to find someone when the time comes.”

Rin wanted to continue asking Sakura about her experiences, but there was something else that caught her attention. A boy she’d never seen before was looking around, as if lost and hoping that someone would help him. His dark hair and blue eyes looked a bit familiar though…

“Hey, Sakura… Do you know that guy?” She pointed at him. “He looks like someone who desperately needs help.”

“Oh, that’s… He’s from my class,” Sakura said. “Though I haven’t memorized all the names yet, so I don’t remember him well… I think he has a twin sister?”

That wasn’t a very useful information. Trying to make an impression of a good upperclassman, Rin approached him.

“Ehm… Hello? Do you perhaps need help?” She asked in an attempt to get his attention, but instead of simply looking her way, the boy jumped in his place, letting out an undignified squeal. “Calm down, I’m just another student here…”

“S-Sorry! Getting used to this atmosphere is sure taking me some time, haha…” He laughed awkwardly. “To be honest, I got lost and can’t find my classroom.”

“I figured out as much,” Rin sighed. “Sakura, can you take him with you? You’re in the same class, right?”

“Well, we are, but… actually, I’m lost too,” she replied, sounding a little embarrassed that she had to disappoint her sister. “So, if you could help us both…”

“I guess I’ll have to. I hope you at least know the classroom to which I’m supposed to take you… What’s your name?”

“Ah, it’s Ritsuka. Ritsuka Fujimaru,” the boy introduced himself. “I’m pretty new to this whole magic thing, so please, go easy on me… ehm…”

“Rin Tohsaka. Nice to meet you, newbie.”

Some time ago, she probably would’ve ignored him. She didn’t feel any strong magical energy from him, and he seemed totally ordinary at first glance… But she knew better than anyone that ignoring people like that wasn’t a smart move. Not when Shirou Emiya was one of them too.

“T-Tohsaka? Like the headmaster?”

“Yes, but does that matter? Let’s go, you don’t want to be late, right?”

She ignored how his eyes widened at the sound of her name and waved her hand at both Ritsuka and Sakura. The first years always had classes on a completely different floor, so even without knowing the exact classroom, she could begin leading them.

Well, it wasn’t like she’d never gotten lost in the giant school building, but she wasn’t going to admit that. Even if her own class knew her true self, she still wanted to appear responsible in the eyes of younger students.

To her surprise, another familiar face greeted them when they found the right classroom.

“Shirou? What are you doing here?”

Her classmate stopped talking with some orange-haired girl and turned to her with a surprised face.

“Rin? I could ask you the same, I think…” He muttered, glancing at her, then at Sakura, and then at the poor lost first year.

“I was-“

“Ah, brother!” The girl Shirou was talking to waved at Ritsuka and ran up to them. “What happened? Did you get lost too? Can I say it runs in the family?”

Rin took a closer look at her, and after a moment she deemed the girl wasn’t really similar to her brother, even though the logical conclusion was that she was the twin sister Sakura mentioned. She seemed pretty similar to someone else instead.

“And you must be Tohsaka-senpai!” The girl turned to her. “Sakura-chan mentioned you. I’m Ritsuka, this guy’s sister.”

For a moment Rin just started at her, a bit confused.

_Wasn’t Ritsuka his name…?_

“You can call me Gudako though! I should probably start introducing myself like that, but it’s funny to see people’s reactions…”

“Gudako-chan, you probably shouldn’t mess with Rin-senpai like this…” Sakura spoke up, but Rin waved her hand.

“It’s fine. So you have the same first name? That’s unusual…”

“That’s why she goes by Gudako,” Ritsuka commented. “To avoid confusion…”

“You and Emiya should come up with something like that too, Shirou,” Rin said to her classmate. “Some people still get confused about which Emiya we’re talking about.”

“Just call me Shirou and don’t come up with any weird ideas…”

“Are you maybe done with your little show?” A white-haired head popped up from behind the classroom’s door, and Rin easily recognized Chloe’s annoyed face. “Hey, double Ritsuka, should I draw you a map of the school?”

“That could actually be useful…” The male Ritsuka said, totally serious. Chloe looked like she was holding back a sigh, looking at him, then at Gudako, then at Rin, and…

“Even you, Shirou?”

“What do you mean? I just wanted to help your classmate!”

“Sure, sure… by the way. You two.” She pointed at the Fujimaru twins. “Are you perhaps from the future?”

“Us? Why?” Gudako tilted her head, as if she was really thinking about an answer.

“Look at yourself, then look at my brother. Then look at _your_ brother, and next at Rin. You two look like their kids from the future and I do not like it,” Chloe said casually, not caring about the reaction she would get.

First of all, Sakura blushed so hard that probably half of her blood rushed to her face.

Double Ritsuka looked at each other, then at them, and finally nodded.

Meanwhile she and Shirou…

“What?! Our kids?! There’s no way!” Rin yelled at the implication something like that could happen in the future.

“You mean me and Rin? No, no, no, Chloe, stop talking nonsense,” Shirou said at the same time, and for once, she agreed with him.

“Say what you want.” That fiend of a little sister shrugged, and was about to go back to the classroom, when someone else spoke up.

“Seems like someone is going to be late for class… and it’s not a student,” a brown-haired girl standing by the open corridor’s window said, looking outside. Rin didn’t notice her before, it seemed like she appeared out of nowhere.

“What is it, Da Vinci-chan?” Gudako asked, approaching her and taking a look too. “Oh.”

The window in this corridor should allow them to see the training grounds. Right now it should either be empty, or someone getting the field ready for the evening could be there. The second years were supposed to have their turn in the evening, so they shouldn’t be there for another few hours.

Also, did she say it wasn’t a student?

Curiosity won over her as she took a few steps forward, and… It certainly wasn’t a sight she expected to see, but something she was glad she could. It was rare to see teachers fighting against each other after all.

Rin didn’t normally have classes with professor Nero, and even if she had, it’s not like teachers showed them their true strength at daily basis. That’s why seeing her attack Diarmuid without holding back was pretty amazing. She couldn’t see their masters anywhere nearby though, so it definitely wasn’t a serious fight.

“If this is how a sparring looks like for them…” She muttered. “Then how long it’s going to take before we reach that level too?”

“That Lancer boy seems to be getting his ass kicked though,” the mysterious brown-haired girl stated. “The Saber woman… looks terribly strong, but him…”

“He’s only two years older than us,” Shirou said. “Arturia used to challenge him often when we were first years… Seems like it’s a family thing.”

_A lot of things seem to be family things here._

“With Arturia it was a more even fight though, even if you were really weak,” Rin commented. “But I’m not sure if she could handle him now… Our teachers sure are amazing.”

“Hey, I wasn’t that weak…!”

“You were.”

She continued to watch the battle happening on the training field, partially ignoring Shirou and the rest. While she would never admit she and Emiya were still weak, because they weren't...

They still had a lot to learn before the tournament if they didn’t want to end up like Diarmuid right now, accepting professor Nero’s hand to get up from the ground, as she laughed loudly enough for them to hear.

 

                                                     

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry for the long break... and thanks for reading!!


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